Somewhere, somewhere there is a nowhere man

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CSC rating: 80/100

Country, release year: Usa, 2010

Director: Sofia Coppola

Runtime: 97 min

How would you feel if you were able to get any beautiful girl around you, how would you feel if you were welcome in any hotel in any city? How would you feel if you could drive best sport car? I know what you think. Everybody would want that. Well, maybe not Johnny Marco, he is a superstar and main character of Sophia Coppola’s new feature film. Another beautiful, lonely and poetic story from a talented director.

Everything is so easy for Johnny, his smile is enough to charm any girl, his smile is enough to please journalists. His smile is enough to make somebody’s day. He is a film star. But what if you, like Johnny had to go in circles for all of your life? What if you had to do all the stame stuff everyday? Would you still like it? Marco did not even bother to learn much about how to become an actor. When a guy on a party asks how did he learn to be an actor Johnny is confused, he did not.

Who is Johnny Marco? Does he anjoy his life? Does he enjoy sleeping with girls every time a girl sees him? Actually, he falls asleep while having a sex with a gorgeous girl. Because it is so boring!

Johnny’s life is empty, he does not feel himself as a human and he does not know how to fulfil his life. While a short episode we see a film about Gandhi. Is it just a coincidence or Coppola deliberately put this prominent figure, a figure who had fulfilled life?

Coppola managed to construct a film from different pieces which give you some hints and symbols that build a simple story. Johnny’s daughter is probably the only person who “awakens” him. She gives him chance to live the life and not just be a victim of circumstances. She gives him hope.

Don’t worry if you can’t have all the girls, hotels, cars or anything else in the world, at least you can walk a straight line full of adventures and unknown, that’s all Johnny wants.

Five most underrated films

A week ago I came accross a list of 10 most underrated films according to the Shortlist. I agreed with some of them and then thought of those films which I personally think are underrated and did not get proper response from the public. Sometimes it is strange when a film which seems fun to you goes unnoticed and fails to be success. So, with no further delay here is my version of most underrated films.

5. Cable guy

Jim Carrey’s comedies have always been popular, especially in early 90-ies. However this does not apply to “Cable guy,” a film where you can see Carrey at his best. “Cable guy” Ben’s Stillers second try after “Reality bites” never hited the top charts of the lists and stayed below the level of the recognition it deserved.

4. Hitchiker’s guide to the galaxy

Based on iconic book of Douglas Adams the film is a adventerous piece with lots of funny moments. That’s a shame that this kind of humour was never close to popularity compared to Hollywood comedies of the same time. This one has great cast, John Malkovitz deserves a seperate mention.

3. King of comedy

Scorcese managed to become a legend during his lifetime. His films have won dozens of Oscars and hardly went unnoticed, however not this one. Public somehow managed to skip and forget Scorceze probably one of the most brilliant works with De Niro in it, who plays slightly dillusional character, but does that absolutely great. One of the greatest comedies from 80-ies.

2. Fearless

Before doing “Fearless” Peter Weir created “Dead Poet’s Society,” which became inspiritaional drama for many in that time. Fearless, featuring Jeff Bridges, who survived plane crush and changed his views on life addresses the philosophical issues of the existence. This drama actually is not that far from “Dead Poet’s Society” or “Truman Show” in means of great work by the acclaimed director, however it never made to the top.

1. Bonfire of the vanities

Brian De Palma is known for his gangster films, which I personally don’t appreciate very much (apart from “Untouchables”). This film based on Tom Wolfe’s novel was never like De Palma’s other works. It was much better, great cast, great humour, great dialogues… This turned out to be not enough to grab viewers’ attention. What else do people want?

10 most famous Georgians

Couple weeks ago one of my course mates asked who is or was the most famous Georgian. It was an easy question with an obvious answer. However, later on when I started to think about other Georgians the answer was not always very clear. Anyway, here is the list of 10 most famous Georgians, I don’t claim that this is neccesarilly reality, however these are 10 people who come to my mind for the moment.

10. Shota Arveladze – The only footballer in the list. The reason why he got there is his good performance for Glasgow Rangers. Before coming to Rangers he also had a good career in Ajax, Trabzonspor and Dinamo Tbilisi. He played 60 games for the Georgian National team and scored 26 goals in total. For the moment he is a head coach of Kayserispor in Turkey.

9. Zaza Pachulia – Another sportsman in the list. Those who watch NBA games regulary will definitely know Pachulia as one of the leaders for Atlanta Hawks. He is also a captain of Georgian National team.

8. Merab Mamardashvili – One of the greatests philosophers of 20th century, whose name unfortunately remained unknown for the wider audience in western world. Instead, he remained in Soviet Union and was conducting his lectures mainly in USSR cities. Despite of numerous invetations to western universities and despite being a globalist Mamardashvili probably saw himself connected to his homeland and refused to leave the country.

7. Mikhail Kalatozov – Georgian-Russian filmmaker, his films gained numerous prizes for different film festivals. His most famous work is probably The Cranes Are Flying which won him Palme d’or in cannes in 1958.

6. Giya Kancheli – a Georgian composer currently resident of Belgium. His music is often described as spiritual and compared to John Tavener and Arno Part. He is also known for composing soundtracks for film and theatre.

5. Katie Melua – Katie lived in Georgia before the age of 8, when her family moved to Northern Ireland. She was United Kingom’s best selling artist in 2006. Allegedly Katie Melua owns £ 18 million pounds what makes seventh richest British musician under thirty.

4. Otar Ioseliani – His films were censored and banned often in Soviet times, this forced him to leave the country and settle in France in 1982, where he still leaves. The same year, before leaving for France his film “Pastorale” succeeded in Berlin film festival. His films mainly produced in France are regular winners of prestigious film awards.

3. Edward Shevardnadze – There is a joke that one Georgian divided Germany into two parts and another one united them decades later. The second one in this case is Edward Shevardnadze, who served as USSR’s minister of foreign affairs from 1985 to 1991. He was Georgia’s second president later from 1995 to 2003, when he had to leave his post as a result of Rose Revolution in the country.

2. George Balanchene – born as Giorgi Balanchivadze he later became one of the pioneers of ballet in USA and co-founded New York ballet. Being a choreographer known for his musicality he did not illustrate music but expressed it in dance and worked extensively with Igor Stravinsky.

1. Joseph Stalin – Dictator, who served as first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Despite of being seen only as a dictator here is how Franklin D. Roosevelt described him during Yalta conference in 1943, “I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man. … I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won’t try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace.” – he said.

A Serious man, when the truth is found to be lies

CSC rating: 84/100
Country, release year: USA, 2009
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Runtime: 106 min

The Uncertainty Principle. It proves we can’t ever really know… what’s going on. So it shouldn’t bother you. Not being able to figure anything out. Although you will be responsible for this on the mid-term.

Between comedy and tragedy there is a thin line. And this line is called life. It depends on your personal perception to decide what counts as tragedy or comedy in certain cases. So, what if your perception tells you that the things are going wrong and there is nothing worse which could happen to some characters of this film? You find out that the worst things are still to come.

“A Serious Man” is another black comedy from acclaimed directors, Coen brothers. I will not go on telling the plot of the film, thus spoiling it, what I would do is just tell you how this film left me thinking for following days. This film is brilliant, not only in means of Cohen brothers bringing wise ideas to the audience but also in purely filmographic means. The film is perfectly done, attentive viewer can see in some of the shots the satire which should be read between the lines (lies if you want to).

One thing the film is about is rationalism and at the same time uncertainity and superstitions, though we could prove a lot of things theoretically and predict an outcome taking into considerations all the circumstances, we still face something we never expected in the end. Perhaps, one of the things Coen brothers try to tell us is that there is nothing in the world we can be sure of, since our knowledge is limited.

This film is definetely “must watch” one, I highly recommend it to anyone, despite of having or not interest in Coen works.

Watch trailer here

Georgian Cuisine

Food has a special place in Georgian culture and tradition. Here are some dishes from Georgian cuisine. Special thanks to Elena Kovtun for providing photos.

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